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October 2, 2003 - 8,548 subscribers
Today's sponsor: EBIA's COBRA: The Developing Law
(Click on company name or banner to learn more.)
COBRA's New Notice Requirements! Are You Ready? The DOL's proposed COBRA regulations, expected to be finalized early next year, impose new notice requirements--and EBIA is here to help! Our COBRA: The Developing Law manual is the best resource available. Written and edited by top employee benefits attorneys, our COBRA manual (updated quarterly) has over 1,000 pages packed with information and sample documents to help keep your group health plans in compliance with COBRA's requirements. Click above for details.
(Please visit our sponsors. We try to make sure their products and services will be of interest to you. Thanks! --Editor)
Almost All Large Companies to Allow Over-the-Counter Drug Reimbursements Under Cafeteria Plans
Excerpt: "Virtually all large companies participating in a recent survey said they would allow employees to pay for over-the-counter drugs with money from their health care flexible spending accounts (FSA)." (PLANSPONSOR.com; one-time registration required)
Voluntary Benefit Plans: ERISA Jurisdiction Issue Not Getting Any Clearer
Excerpt: "Brokers and their clients are no closer to a definitive answer on when voluntary benefit plans fall under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). In fact, the legal waters may have gotten muddier.... Brokers and attorneys have claimed that insurance companies will market benefits as voluntary, only to raise the ERISA issue when something goes wrong." (BenefitNews.com)
2,500 Steelworkers Win Plant Closing Benefits
Excerpt: "A federal court ruled that about 2,500 former employees of the defunct Republic Technologies International are eligible for $96 million in severance money from the government because the plant closed." (AP via New York Times; one-time registration required)
To Veterans, Disability Pay Comes With a Price
Excerpt: "At 45, suffering from a range of illnesses triggered by the poor conditions, Cushing was ruled permanently and totally disabled. Cushing thought she would get her pension, plus disability pay. But she was in for a shock. Like more than 550,000 other military retirees, Cushing is trapped by a Civil War-era law that bars her from receiving a full pension and disability pay.... But critics say veterans were never promised both paychecks ..." (Orlando Sentinel)
The Effects of Offering Health Plan Choice within Employment-Based Purchasing
Working paper. Excerpt: "Over the last two decades, employers have increasingly offered workers a choice of health plans.... I find that greater availability of choice was associated with a reduction in the premium of employer-sponsored coverage and an increase in the proportion of workers covered ... [but the] results are not consistent with the availability of choice leading to lower premiums through greater competition among plans for workers." (M. Kate Bundorf, available through National Bureau of Economic Research)
Are Mental Health Insurance Mandates Effective? Evidence from Suicides
Working paper. Excerpt: "Many states have passed laws mandating insurance companies to provide or offer some form of mental health benefits. These laws presumably lower the price of obtaining mental health services for many adults, and ... might improve health outcomes. This paper analyzes the effectiveness of mental health insurance mandates by examining the influence of mandates on adult suicides ... [R]esults show that mental health mandates are not effective in reducing suicide rates." (Jonathan Klick and Sara Markowitz, available through National Bureau of Economic Research)
California Governor Expected to Sign 'Pay or Play' Mandatory Healthcare Coverage Bill
Excerpt: "Although Gov. Gray Davis refused to tip his hand Tuesday, there are growing indications that he will sign a far-reaching bill that would provide health care insurance to 1 million workers who cannot now afford policies." (Los Angeles Times via Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights)
The Next Phase of HIPAA: Security
Excerpt: "Many health plans, providers and health plan sponsors just recently managed compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act's (HIPAA) privacy requirements, which became effective in April of this year. Now, these same plans and covered entities (CEs) must begin planning for the next phase of HIPAA -- the Security Rule-- which becomes effective in April 2005 (April 2006 for small plans)." (Watson Wyatt)
Health Benefits a Top Priority in UAW Contract
Excerpt: "Under the terms of new United Auto Workers contracts, General Motors, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler may eliminate some 50,000 jobs over the next four years. The contracts also call for smaller wage increases. But the UAW refused to give ground on health insurance benefits for its members. Hear NPR's Snigdha Prakash." (National Public Radio)
Opinion: New Data Underscore Need to Shore Up Employer-Based Health Coverage
Excerpt: "Methods of shoring up employer-based coverage include helping small businesses buy health insurance for employees, as described in New York's HealthPass Purchasing Alliance: Making Coverage Easier for Small Businesses ... The Erosion of Employer-Based Health Coverage and the Threat to Workers' Health Care (Aug. 2002) reveals that premium assistance would substantially increase the number of workers taking up COBRA coverage." (The Commonwealth Fund)
Overview: CMS to Deploy EDI Contingency Plan for Medicare
Excerpt: "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will accept noncompliant Medicare claims for an undetermined period of time following HIPAA's Oct. 16 standard transaction deadline, under a contingency plan announced Sept. 23. The agency urged private health plans to implement contingency plans of their own." (Thompson Publishing Group)
More HIPAA Q&As Posted by HHS
Excerpt: "Does the Privacy Rule require that an Authorization be notarized or include a witness signature? Can an Authorization be used together with other written instructions? Can an individual revoke his or her Authorization?" (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
And Yet More HIPAA Q&As from HHS
Excerpt: "May a covered entity use or disclose an entire medical record based on the patient's signed Authorization? Must an Authorization include an expiration date? Is a copy, fax, or electronically transmitted version of a signed Authorization valid under the Privacy Rule? May an Authorization form be prepared by a third party? May an Authorization apply to protected health information created after the Authorization was signed?" (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services)
Links to Items on Executive Comp, Benefits in General
Can a Work Organization Have an Attitude Problem?
Working paper. Excerpt: "In this study we examine whether a workplace can induce good or bad attitudes among its employees ... The results document the existence and persistence of a genuine workplace effect in how workers view their jobs and organizations.... The study's results show that there are happy and unhappy workplaces, as well as happy and unhappy workers, with very different patterns of turnover and productivity in these workplaces." (Ann Bartel, Richard Freeman, Casey Ichniowski and Morris M. Kleiner; available from National Bureau of Economic Research)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings
Employee Benefits Sales Representative
for Great-West Healthcare
in MI, NY, OH, WA
Senior Employee Benefits Attorney
for Briggs and Morgan, P.A.
in MN
Retirement Plan Administrator/Consultant
for Summit Financial Corporation
in MA
401(k) DC Plan Administrator
for Printz & Associates
in CA
Conversion & Distribution Specialist
for Decimal, Inc. - The Online 401(k)
in CA
Newly Posted Conferences
(Post Yours!)
Compliance Update
in AZ
October 9, 2003
Garner Consulting
21st Annual Fall Conference
in CA
October 22, 2003
Western Pension & Benefits Conference, San Francisco Chapter
Recent Developments Affecting Executive Benefits
in MD
October 15, 2003
Baltimore Chapter of ISCEBS
Complying with the Wage-Hour Requirements of the Service Contract Act
in ALL STATES
October 23, 2003
Thompson Publishing Group, Inc.
Newly Posted Press Releases
(Post Yours!)
Washington State Trends: Medical +15.2%; Prescription Drug +21.3%
(Michael Greve & Associates)
ICC Plan Solutions Retains Services of National Advisory Firm
(ICC Plan Solutions)
Benefit Software Inc. Helps First Federal Communicate the High Cost of Health Insurance and Other Employee Benefits
(Benefit Software Inc.)
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